NDE Bulletin

November 16, 2017

ATTENTION ALL NDE PORTAL USERS:

Please log onto your portal accounts and go to the “My Profile” tab and check to make sure your contact information (especially the email address) is up to date. It is very important to keep this information updated as the Department of Education uses the email address that is in the users’ Portal account to send vital information.Thank you!!

As noted in NDE Bulletins and previous email correspondence, there are some notable changes in this year’s application.

Goals and Needs focus predominantly on AQuESTT (Accountability for a Quality Education System, Today and Tomorrow) tenets. There are a total of eight goals plus “Nonpublic Schools”, and “Title IV-SSAE Goals/Objectives” (to be completed only by eleven grant recipients). Each of the goals and funding sources requires a response even if the response is NA. If the goal response is NA, make sure to also mark the funding source as Not Applicable.

Title I has an additional page in the Targeting Steps called, “Targeting Served Schools.” Approved Schoolwide (SW) programs are already marked. Applicants will need to mark either TA (Targeted Assistance) or Not Served for the remaining schools. Be sure to SAVE the page before moving to Targeting Step 4 or the information entered will not move forward.

On Goal 8 of the District Goals and Needs, a response is required if funds are being used for professional development activities. Applicants will identify the goal(s) for meeting the ESSA requirement of providing ongoing high-quality evidence-based professional development and describe how staff are included in the conversation to provide input and gain an understanding of the plan for professional development (§1112). If Title II-A funds are being used to support this goal, applicants are required to select one of the four levels of evidence-based practice that will be implemented.

Title I, Targeting Step 4, has the Set-Asides and Nonpublic Equitable Services information on the top of the page. Reminder: Equitable Services amounts for nonpublic schools are now determined prior to any set-asides.

Title I has a requirement to set-aside funds to assist homeless students. Each District is required to set-aside a minimum of $100. McKinney-Vento Grant recipients must match the amount of the homeless set-aside to the amount of the McKinney-Vento grant.

Title II-A equitable service amounts for nonpublic schools are now determined on a per pupil basis. The system calculates this on the “Nonpublic School Participation” page. Enrollment numbers are from the 2016-17 school year.

Title II-A Budget operates the same as in previous years. After completing the “Budget Detail” page, applicants must return to the “Nonpublic School Participation” page to SAVE the page again. If this step is not completed the application will not pass the consistency check.

Minimal changes to Title III. Under NCLB the term LEP (Limited English Proficient) was used. ESSA uses EL (English Learners). Both acronyms are used throughout the Title III sections of the application.

For the eleven Districts receiving Title IV-A (SSAE) funds, instructions have been sent out indicating which sections of the application need to be completed. The Nonpublic School Equitable Participation requires that applicants enter the enrollment for public and nonpublic. A link is provided which includes enrollment numbers. Enrollment numbers are from the 2016-17 school year.

Like the Title II-A section of the application, after completing the “Budget Detail page”, applicants must return to the “Nonpublic School Participation” page to SAVE the page again. If this step is not completed the application will not pass the consistency check.

Thank you for your patience as we worked through the challenges of getting this new application up and running.

NOTE: Brad Conner has moved from the NDE Federal Programs Team to the NDE Accreditation and School Improvement Team. He will continue to assist with reviewing of applications until we are able to hire someone to take his place.

The District Technology Plan will be reopening in the Consolidated Data Collection under the Data Collections tab in the NDE Portal for the 2016-17 school year with the due date extended. A revised data collection will be developed next year to align with the Digital Learning/Ed Tech Plan scheduled for release next spring/summer.

The Nebraska Teacher Vacancy Survey (TVS) has been re-opened on the NDE Portal. We apologize for any inconvenience to those who accessed the system the last couple of weeks.

The annual Teacher Vacancy Survey collects statewide teacher vacancy information which is used to determine teacher shortage areas. This information is used to qualify content areas eligible for a number of state and federal teacher loan forgiveness opportunities and to inform research regarding teacher supply and shortage initiatives. Public districts, Nonpublic systems and Educational Service Units will find the Teacher Vacancy Survey – 2017-2018 in the ONLINE list in the NDE Portal under the Data Collections Tab. An activation code is required. Check with your District Administrator to acquire the code.

The 2017-18 Title I-A Accountability Application is now open. Due Date is November 30. For the 2017-18 school year Needs Improvement ratings are frozen for a second year (based on data from the 2014-15 school year). Requirements from NCLB remain in effect for this grant only. Only schools identified as being in improvement in Year 2 or more will receive funding for the 2017-18 school year. When completing the application, keep in mind that these funds must be used to go above and beyond what was previously being done to address the area(s) of need.

SPED Proportionate Share Worksheet for Non-Public Schools – 2018-2019

OPENED: November 1 – CLOSES: December 15

Contact: Pete Biaggio (402-471-4308) in the Office of Special Education

All school districts (including districts that do NOT have approved/accredited non-public schools or exempt home schools located within the district‘s jurisdiction) are required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to complete and submit the 2018-2019 IDEA Proportionate Share application. This collection is found under the “Data Collection” tab in the portal. This collection is based on the October 1, 2017 child count of eligible children with disabilities (ages 3-21) and represents the amount of IDEA funds that must be expended for eligible parentally placed children with disabilities in an accredited/approved nonpublic school or an exempt home school within the school district boundaries.

With the new school year 2017-2018 beginning and this year being a parallel year for reporting data to NSSRS and ADVISER, we would like to remind our districts of the appropriate Helpdesk to contact for each system to ensure your questions are answered in a timely matter.

For questions regarding NSSRS data, please send in a Helpdesk Request from the NDE Portal or an email to: nde.helpdesk@nebraska.gov.

All three ways get to the same place, so please only use one of the following options.

If you send more than one request this may delay our response as we coordinate all requests.

Submit a “Helpdesk Request” from your portal account. After logging into the NDE Portal, it is available in the upper right corner of the Collection Announcement page. This will be the fastest way to get your request to the NDE Helpdesk.

It is the policy of the Nebraska Department of Education not to discriminate on the basis of sex, disability, race, color, religion, marital status, age or national origin in its educational programs, admission policies, employment, or other agency programs.